Cynthia Wright, art teacher, guides student Madelynn Plummer as the Waldorf sophomores take a break from trigonometry to do art and nature.

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The old-fashioned field trip generally involved sticking with your buddy, following the group and traipsing through a local museum. If you were lucky, you might get ice cream. But Saratoga Springs' Waldorf School students have gotten much more than ice cream from their high school's trips -- they've learned about politics, surveying, plants and meteors. Students also learned about themselves.

Waldorf's high school students returned Oct. 26 from week-long excursions tailored for their grade and their current studies. The freshmen traveled to Washington, D.C., while the sophomores headed to the Frost Valley YMCA camp in Claryville in the Catskill Mountains. The school's juniors journeyed to the Promised Land, a state park in Pike County, Pa. The seniors watched the skies on a farm in Keene Valley.

These new immersion trips were added to

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Waldorf's other learning experiences to bring together the academic world and the real world.

"We focused on more experiential learning, more hands-on activities," said Tom Ward, director of development and community relations at the school.

The Waldorf School's mission is to foster academic knowledge, artistic work and practical skills in its students. Individual potential is emphasized, as is imagination and love of learning. Faculty emphasized these goals when planning the trips.

The ninth grade went farthest afield, touring the nation's capital to continue their study of the 19th Century and recent U.S. history. Besides visiting museums, art venues and monuments, the students studied famous speeches from U.S. history. Cynthia Wright, guidance counselor and art teacher, helped lead the expedition, which involved a hostel stay and student cooking.

Freshman Gabby Kaspar described the trip as a bonding experience for everyone.

While the youngest students were roaming the nation's capital, the sophomores headed into the woods. At the Frost Valley YMCA camp, the students experienced an integrated study of trigonometry and art in nature. Team-building exercises and adventure activities were also part of the excursion.

Math teacher Nellie Lovenduski found ways to make trigonometry come alive through land surveying -- students measured everything from trees to mountains.

"I was nervous about teaching so much content in one week," Lovenduski said. "The kids did five hours of math daily, learning about the historical development of measurement. But they began talking about trigonometry everywhere."

The Waldorf School juniors camped out in Promised Land State Park. As part of their earth science course, they observed weather, water, rocks and plants. They also did a nine-mile hike.

Junior Fiona Craig said her favorite part was the meditative aspect of the trip; the 11th-graders went to their own place in the woods to write and draw.

"It was wonderful to see the students enter into that contemplative place," German teacher Irene Gilb said. "They began to see the world as not just a frenzied place."

The seniors watched the skies on a farm in upstate New York. Astronomy and physics teacher Michael D'Aleo removed these students from electricity and modern infrastructure to create natural daily rhythms. Besides watching moon phases and the Orionid meteor showers, the 11th-graders learned about human biochemistry, ancient cosmology and deep thinking.

"We discussed the relationship of humankind to the heavens," senior Baxter Koziol said.

Twelfth-grader Takura Sophia cheerfully described some of the less esoteric points of their immersion trip.

"We had only candles and a wood stove," he said. "The nearest house was a mile and a half away. We were on our own."